The West Sound community has been working for several years to save the 3,536-acre Port Gamble Forest from development into 20 acre residential parcels and keep it available for public recreational use. The current owner has allowed open public use of the Forestís 65 miles of trails, where more than 20,000 hikers, birders, mountain bikers, equestrians, cyclists and runners recreate each year. But development would bring those uses to an end.

Recent successes in the protection effort include acquisition of a 535-acre shoreline block in 2014 for $4.6 million, and the acquisition of a 1356-acre block of forestland in late 2016 for $2.3 million. Most of these funds have come from pubic sources.

But the effort isnít over. The last phase of the effort is the purchase of a block of 1645 acres of forest for $3.5 million. The primary public sources of funds have been exhausted, so this last phase must rely mostly on private donations. To date, $1.9 million has been committed, leaving $1.6 to be raised by the July 2017 deadline.

To learn more or to join Windermere in helping bring this dream to reality, click on the link below: